Orlando shooting: It’s way past time to get rid of assault weapons
Time to rid society of assault weapons
I found myself unable to sleep the night after the massacre because my thoughts and my feelings were tortured by the horrific and senseless shootings which took place in the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida. According to reports, a single gunman murdered 49 people and wounded another 53 people during a very brief time.
He was able to do this because he was armed with recently purchased rapid fire assault weapons. This raises a serious question: How long will our lawmakers in Columbia and Washington, D.C., allow these kinds of assault weapons to be made availabIe to the general population in America?
It is time to reinstate the assault weapons ban so that 100 people cannot be killed and/or injured in the duration of one song!
While I believe the 2nd Amendment gives us the right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our families, we don't need assault weapons for that purpose, nor for sport.
When children in schools are being gunned down with assault weapons, when movie-goers are being gunned down by an assault weapon, when fellow workers are killed with assault weapons, and when patrons in an Orlando night club are senselessly murdered while celebrating life by an assault weapon, it is time to reinstate the ban on assault weapons. While this won't prevent every terrorist, hate-monger or mentally unstable person from these bloody massacres, it is the necessary step we must take as a "united" nation as a deterrent to these horrific crimes.
Ruth Deal, Little River
This story was originally published June 14, 2016 at 7:06 AM with the headline "Orlando shooting: It’s way past time to get rid of assault weapons."